


Breakout

by frith_in_thorns



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Girl Saves Girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 17:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3455552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frith_in_thorns/pseuds/frith_in_thorns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha is assigned to mount a rescue from HYRDA. Darcy's glad to meet her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breakout

**Author's Note:**

  * For [circ_bamboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/circ_bamboo/gifts).



> Beta'd by sholio.

Natasha's intelligence had been quite definite on the number of entrances there were into the warehouse: one. The front door.

It was a common failing of imagination suffered by whoever put these reports together for her.

Sleet lashed from the grey sky, freezing her skin and stinging her eyes, but she ignored it. The weather was in her favour — the guards down below were hunched into their coats, faces tilted down from the worst of it. They wouldn't be looking up.

The slope of the roof, and its wetness, made it tricky for Natasha to get leverage with her tools on the bolts holding the thick sheets of metal in place. They were choked with rust and dirt, and she had been working on the panel for longer than she had scheduled in her planning by the time she forced the last bolt out. 

The roof panel was heavy, and more rust sealed it to its neighbours. Natasha gritted her teeth as she forced a small pry tool under one edge and pulled. But she couldn't afford to wrench it out with a sharp shriek of metal — the force she used was tightly controlled so that it slowly lifted free with a minimum of noise. 

The cavern of the warehouse beneath her was too dimly lit for her to make out much of use. She already knew that she was in the right place, above the back left corner.

When the gap under the panel was exactly the smallest height her body could fit through, she held it still as she swapped out her equipment. She clicked open the folded legs of a grapple, clipping the end of the retractable cord to her belt. She hefted the panel a final time to reassure herself of its flex and movement potential, and slid feet-first down and into empty space.

The roof panel dropped as she let it go, falling back into the position she had pried it from. She held the grapple above her as she leapt, releasing it at the last moment so that it was trapped outside as the hole in the roof sealed itself. The line kicked in after a second and a half of free-fall, braking her velocity enough that by hitting the floor at a roll she was able to bleed off the dangerous force of her descent. She tumbled once, twice, across the hard concrete, and used the momentum of it to carry her to her feet and to the nearest wall she could put her back against.

Only then did she allow herself to still. No attackers had lunged up in her peripheral vision while she was in motion, but that didn't mean she was clear.

Fortunately, her intel seemed to be holding up. The warehouse had been divided inside by metal partitions about three metres high. The room Natasha stood inside was small, and the door was shut and undoubtedly locked. A recon fly-by with a powerful infra-red scanner just before she had gone in had revealed the presence of only one person in there, which was still the case — she was huddled into a corner but had lifted her head at Natasha's sudden appearance and was still staring at her with wide eyes.

"Darcy Lewis?" Natasha asked, speaking quietly.

"Yes," the young woman said. Then she caught herself sharply. "Uh, wait. Maybe. Are you one of the good guys?"

"That depends on who you ask," Natasha said. "My name's Agent Romanoff. I work for SHIELD."

Lewis's clothes and hair were dishevelled, and there was a bruise on her left cheek the same colour as the shadows under her eyes. Still, she jumped to her feet as if electrified. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed. (Somehow, she _did_ manage to keep her voice reasonably quiet, despite the excitement in it.) "You're _Black Widow._ One of the Avengers. Like Thor."

"He's pretty worried about you," Natasha said. She wondered fleetingly whether this was a subtle probe to get her to prove she was who she claimed to be, but there was nothing hard to get hold of about that information. "He wanted to smash his way in here, but the situation called for rather more subtle tactics."

"Yeah, I'm not sure 'subtle' is in his dictionary," Lewis agreed. "If they even have dictionaries in Asgard." She tried to brush down her cardigan. "So you're here to rescue me? I mean, I won't be offended if I'm not your entire objective, but I'd like to be rescued as well, please." She attempted a winning smile.

Natasha had extracted her share of odd people from various situations, but she was still taken somewhat aback by Lewis's only-slightly-faltering earnestness. "Of course I'm here to rescue you," she said. "But first of all, Miss Lewis, you need to agree to do _exactly_ what I say while I'm getting you out of here. Okay?"

"Okay," Lewis agreed. "Call me Darcy, though. _Miss Lewis_ sounds weird. Um, also you should know I can't actually fight or anything. Though I can use a taser…"

"That part's my job," Natasha said. She decided she liked Darcy's spirit. "Just stay behind me and don't do anything stupid." She turned to the door — quickly, because she was almost certain that Darcy was about to ask her to clarify what counted as _anything stupid_.

"It's bolted on the other side," Darcy said. "I heard them slam it across."

Natasha turned back, eyebrow raised. Frankly, she hadn't expected that level of observation. "Do you know what height the bolt is?" Any estimate would save time.

Darcy shrugged and grimaced. "Like… normal height? Normal for a door handle or something."

Natasha took a small and very carefully sealed bottle from one of her pouches. She unscrewed it delicately and flung the contents at the door. The roughly circular splash of liquid gleamed for a moment, and then began to gently hiss. Small bubbles formed. Then, like wax melting, the metal dissolved where the acid had touched it, leaving a ragged hole about thirty centimetres in diameter. No guards were visible through it.

"That's so _cool_ ," Darcy whispered.

Natasha couldn't help smiling herself. "Stay back here and don't move," she murmured, guiding Darcy into a position against the left wall where she would be least likely to be caught in any line of fire.

An equally small pump-action spray neutralised any remainders of the acid. Now that she wasn't risking a chemical burn, Natasha put her hand through the hole. The bolt was right below it, as Darcy had guessed, and she slid it back. It moved soundlessly, and the hinges didn't creak when she put experimental pressure on them.

So far so good. Natasha mentally mapped their way to the front door. Fourteen people were not odds she was worried about, but it was essential that none of them triggered one of the facility's multiple alarms. SHIELD wanted time to remove all of the information and equipment contained here before HYDRA showed up with heavier troops to secure it.

She stepped through the cell door, pushed it closed behind her, and began.

Her pistol was specially adapted to be loaded with tranquiliser darts. She shot two men lolling on chairs in a small rec area before she had taken ten steps. There were several banks of computers behind the next partition, and the two women and another man never looked up from their screens to see her before the fast-acting drug cocktail took effect.

Nine to go.

Voices travelled from the next room — people who wouldn't be so easily caught off their guard. Natasha took a moment to consider her approach, but in this sort of room-by-room environment with its thin walls, subtlety could be hard to achieve and might count for little. 

She came through the door at a run, firing at the first movements her peripheral vision caught. Two bodies dropped. There were scientists in here — their white coats were the only thing she had time to categorise about them — and one of them gave a startled shout. She twisted in that direction and grabbed a handful of white collar before hitting him with the electric charge from her cuffs. He went limp. That made three bodies on the ground, and one finally regaining her wits and running for an alarm. Natasha threw herself forward, a palm making a pivot on the floor as her legs scythed out. They caught the scientist behind her knees and she was flipped off her feet, falling backwards to crack her head on the ground. 

Natasha was already using her spin to bring her upright again, in time for the far door to burst open. Finally it was guards she saw — they must have been concentrated at the warehouse entrance, where HYDRA had been expecting any assault to come from. 

The narrow doorway made the lead one an easy target. He was wearing a thick vest, but Natasha's dart hit him in the exposed skin of his neck and he dropped, blocking the way of the woman behind him. Natasha leapt forward, knocking the woman backwards. She stomped on her windpipe and dodged sideways from the gun of the next guard, whose shots echoed loudly as they slammed against the metal wall. There was danger of ricochet, but she couldn't control that. She ran faster than he turned, and she caught and wrenched his arm back so that he dropped the gun, and she shot him with her dart pistol at point-blank range in the neck. Another dart went to the woman who was wheezing on the floor but still conscious.

That left one, according to her IR scan, but there was no one else in front of the heavily bolted door to the outside. Had the last guard left the warehouse while she had been on the roof? But then her eyes fell on the door in the wall opposite, leading to the rec area if her internal map was correct, and she took off again retracing her route.

She had realised it too late. She reached the cell to find her rescuee already at the point of a gun.

"I warn you," Darcy was saying loudly, "You do _not_ want to fire that at me. You know the superhero guys, the Avengers? I'm one of them. Bullets fired at me bounce off and kill the shooter."

"That's a load of crap," the guard said. He hadn't shot her yet, though. "How'd you get captured if you have powers like that?"

"It only works with guns, I can't punch through metal or anything," Darcy retorted. "But seriously, you try to shoot at me, you're dead. I'm being nice, look, I'm trying to save your life."

The guard levelled his weapon, although he still hesitated. "You don't seriously expect —"

Natasha took him down from behind, twisting him away from Darcy's direction as she electrocuted him. She dropped him and he fell heavily. "Nice job keeping him occupied," she said.

Darcy laughed shakily and touched her chest, as if to reassure herself that she _didn't_ have any bullet holes. "Wow, I can't believe he bought that. It was about the stupidest thing I've ever said."

"Well, it worked," Natasha reminded her. 

"Yeah, I guess so. It would have stopped working about a nanosecond after you showed up, though, so thanks."

"You're welcome," Natasha said. From a professional standpoint she disliked that it had been so close-cut. And from a personal one — she had decided that she definitely liked Darcy. "Are you ready to get out of here?"

"Totally," Darcy assured her. "Are there going to be more guards outside?"

"Probably." But there were no alarms for them to trigger out there, so she didn't have to worry about sneaking them through. That made it much easier. "Follow me. Then wait inside the outer door until I come back for you."

There were six guards outside. They were, indeed, easy to deal with.

Darcy ineffectively shielded her face from the still-falling sleet with her hands as she stepped outside at Natasha's urging. "Ugh. Do you do all your rescuing in this kind of weather?"

"Not at all," Natasha said. "Sometimes it's really awful." She smiled sideways at Darcy, who giggled, and then immediately clapped her hand over her mouth as if she expected a reprimand.

"I didn't know you made jokes."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Should I even ask what it is Thor's said about me?"

"He says you'd get on well with Sif. Jane agreed."

Natasha decided not to press for further details. "I just signalled our ride out of here. They'll meet us at a location half a mile from here in approximately eight minutes."

Darcy gave up trying to keep the sleet out of her face and wrapped her arms tightly around her upper body instead. "I am _so_ ready to be out of here."

Natasha set a brisk pace across the wasteland, not worrying about the trail they were leaving through the sodden shin-high grass and weeds. Darcy kept up without trouble, although she had her head bent against the wind in a manner which didn't indicate willingness to engage in conversation. Which was fine by Natasha, even though she was certain her at-a-distance support would let her know if they weren't the only people now in the area. 

The small helicopter was in place right on schedule. It was overtaken by a much larger one, bringing a SHIELD team to strip the secured warehouse. They would no doubt be extracting the unconscious personnel inside, as well as the equipment and data. Natasha was uncertain whether Darcy would be pleased or dismayed to learn this, and therefore decided not to tell her unless asked directly.

"You guys okay back there?" the pilot called over his shoulder as they climbed aboard. He passed back two headsets. Natasha passed them both to Darcy and slammed the door. 

"You know how to put on the harness?" she asked.

Darcy shook her head, looking both scared and excited. "I've never been in a helicopter before."

"Hold still, then." Natasha buckled her up and showed her how to put on the headset, then secured herself into her own seat. She was amused by how closely Darcy watched the take-off out of the window. "You like the ride?"

"It's great," Darcy said, with a grin. Her voice buzzed over the headset. "Ten out of ten, awesome rescue. I'll recommend you to all my friends."

"Only the first one's on the house," Natasha warned her. 

Darcy began trying to finger-comb the damp tangle of her hair. "If I take you out for drinks to say thanks, will that count as pre-payment against next time?"

It had, really, been a highly successful mission. "I think that would work," Natasha said. She didn't fight her smile.

"Great," Darcy said. "Wow. I never guessed I'd end up being friends with Black Widow. The god of thunder was crazy enough."

Natasha noted wryly the various levels of unexpectedness contained in that statement, but she couldn't honestly say that Darcy was wrong. _She_ wouldn't have expected herself to have friends, either. But they seemed to be sneaking up on her lately.

"Get some rest," she advised Darcy. The adrenaline of her escape would be wearing off now, and she was bound to be exhausted. "I'm sure there'll be a reception committee waiting for us."

Including more of her friends. It was all very surprising, especially after spending time working alone, as she had nearly always used to do. 

Darcy yawned widely. "Thanks." She leaned forward, suddenly serious. "I mean, really. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Natasha said. "Though, isn't it what friends are supposed to do?"

Darcy shrugged. "Well, usually friends rescue friends more from annoying guys in bars than from evil scientists, but I guess it's the same principle."

"We'll find out when we go for that drink," Natasha suggested.

"Deal," Darcy said. "You'd better bring along some gossip with you."

"Only if you do," Natasha said, which seemed to be the appropriate response because Darcy laughed.

She was looking forward to it.


End file.
